BIG architects

Last month, Danish architecture firm BIG unveiled its plans for a landmark in Arizona’s largest city that the developer hopes will become a symbol of the city much in the way Seattle’s Space Needle has come to represent that great Northwestern city.

Things are changing fast in New York — granted, when haven’t they? — but the next few years in particular seem filled with promise to bring fresh architectural and design ideas and monuments that will transform this place into something new. Here are a few thing we’re looking forward to in the coming years.

COPENHAGEN — I knew little about the Bjarke Ingels Group (aka BIG) or their architectural practice based in Denmark beyond some photos I had on the internet or publication. Well, yesterday, thanks to a request by Forrest Nash of Contemporary Art Daily, we were treated to a tour of a number of buildings by this accomplished firm that combines great design, smart spatial organization, youthful energy and a sense of community integrated into their structures. Each building, we discovered, was as wondrous and sophisticated as the other.